4 Lessons to learn from the movie “The Breakfast Club”

A limited timing of entertainment and still speaking to us about a life story, movies are such kind a thing. It brings light to a story, short or long. One such movie engages with the core subject of the behavior of some High School students and how the society judges them. The movie we are referring to today is listed as one of the greatest High School film of Hollywood.

This 1985 released coming of age comedy-drama film was directed by a person who would later also become the writer and executive producer of the comedy series film, Home Alone. Not only he wrote this movie but also directed and produced it, it was John Hughes.

John builds the story line of this film around five teenage High School students who are alike each other. They represent the society. How there are different kinds of people out there. The story tries to tie up these five characters with a similar problem, stereotype.
These five teenagers meet in the school as they report for a Saturday morning detention which they are facing due to various troubles they have caused in School. The film not only takes us on a fun journey of these students but also teach us some very important lessons that we take back with us. The film that we are reading about today is- The Breakfast Club.

The Society judges you, so don’t bother

The film deals with the most important phase of one’s life, teenage. The film shows how these teenage students have done some act just because they were pressurized by the others, i.e. the society. The role of society is dealt with here. The five students represented as John Bender the”criminal”, Andrew Clark the “athlete”, Brian Johnson the “athlete”, Allison Reynolds the “basket case” , and Claire Standish the “prince” . The society is represented by the principal Richard Vernon who judges the students by their act and not by the circumstances that led to it.
It brings us a very important lesson here. The society will judge us with what we do, they never know what’s going on in our heart and what our real character is, so follow your heart, and you know yourself better than anyone else. You have to be the judge of your character, and not the society.

Have Fun

The five students are assembled in the school library on a Saturday and are given an assignment to write an essay of a 1000 words about ‘who they are’. The five of them are in the same school but are not friends. They have done some acts against the school rules and are facing detention. They would have obviously got some great words from their parents who would have been angry for disappointing them. In this phase they are sitting along pretty much angry. On the top, the principal acts like a dictator.
But, the thing is after some gradual awkwardness they understand each other, since they are facing similar problems. This creates a bond among them. Even in such a tough condition, they try and have fun. They smoke up some marijuana which was provided by Bender from his locker. They dance, share, talk and bond which each other. Even with such harsh conditions they manage to have fun. This a very important lesson to learn.

Open up to someone, it helps

Opening up to someone is not easy; there is a fair chance that the person will judge you. But, when the person has same problems as you do and understands your situation, it becomes easy. This movie teaches us this. At the beginning of the movie we totally believe that these students are not going to get along at any cost, but once they share their thought and talk to one another, they get along. They open up to each other, discussing their deep secrets: Allison is a habitual liar, Andrew dislikes his autocratic father, John comes from a brutish household, Brian has contemplated suicide due to bad grade, and Claire is a virgin. When they discuss these secrets, they do not judge. And not only they understand but help each other.
Everyone have some problem, big or small, but they do have it. It’s better not to keep within ourselves; it slowly kills us from inside. Once we share it with someone, it lightens up the burden and we know that we are not the only one with problems, there are many more like us to share with.

Friends can make the worst day, best

Bill Watterson once said, “Things are never quite scary when you’ve got a best friend.” the same has been told here. The five students would have never imagined that what they expected to be one of their worst days will turn out to be best. Also, that they are going to make some new friends who will change their entire perspective towards their problems.
In the opening scene of the film we see all the five students coming from various directions with different conveyance. They are expecting a ‘worst day ever’. When they assemble, they gradually become friends and try out to share their thoughts. Their friendship builds which each other. They have fun together with all the dance, music and drama. At the end of the day, they leave from the same door, with lots of similar thoughts and feelings which they have shared. Their friendship turns ‘the worst day’ into ‘the best day’. This is what friends do.
The Breakfast Club is only a 97 minutes movie and it still succeeds to capture the core ideas and thoughts of a teenager. The last scene of the film shows Brian writing an essay that Vernon (the Principal) gave him before. Brian does it, as opposed to writing about the assigned topic, he decides to write a letter objecting to Vernon’s questions to describe who they are, stating that Vernon has already assumed who they are (an athlete, basket head, princess, brain and criminal), and that he will not be willing to accept and change his notions about them. Brian signs the essay as “The Breakfast Club”.

“Don’t You Forget About Me”

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